Declaring the God of Unconditional Love

love with abandon

11/29/11

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,Love like you'll never be hurt,Sing like there's nobody listening,And live like it's heaven on earth.”

William W. Purkey

In a recent trip to Fredericksburg, Texas, I noticed a placard on display in one of the many tourist shops. The printed message was apparently drawn from the little poem printed above. I was particularly drawn to this idea that love and pain/fear are somehow connected.

Previously, I had consider the fact that our fear of the consequences of loving is the real reason why love is almost universally rejected as the ultimate power on earth. Acts of love all appear so risky. Those we attempt to love may reject us; they might take advantage of our benevolence. Sharing might mean doing without at some point. Later when we need help, those we have loved and aided may not reciprocate. The ego raises a thousand scenarios to divert us from the promise that love will prevail, that love is the antidote to all the fear and anxiety which the pursuit of happiness through material possessions and armed vigilance necessarily engenders.

Until we accept the risk involved, love is merely an intellectual concept, revered mentally but ignored in actuality. Either we pursue a better world the age old way by systemic coercion of those we perceive as the problem, or we recognize that we are the problem in failing to acknowledge that more of the same will yield more of the same. I doubt many believe that what exists is all that there should or could be.

We can fear to love and love our fear or let love be the answer to our fear. We can cling to the past or try something new and even counter intuitive. Jesus showed the way. Is anybody willing to follow Him?